Wales hit by 'tide of hunger and extreme poverty'

An Oxfam report launched today reveals that foodbank use in Wales is disproportionately high

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Wales is among the worst hit in the UK by a ‘tide of hunger and extreme poverty’, an Oxfam report launched today reveals.

The report, Below The Breadline, produced with Church Action on Poverty and the Trussell Trust, shows food bank use in Wales is disproportionately high.

It says the Trussell Trust gave out three days’ emergency food to 79,000 people for a population of just three million last year, compared to 71,000 in Scotland with a population of over five million.

Low pay and welfare cuts are major factors driving people to food banks, and Wales tops the tables for low earnings and benefit claims with 31% of Welsh workers earning less than the Living Wage and 19% of working age people claiming benefits.

Meanwhile, the report says, the combined wealth of the richest ten people in Wales shot up by £874 million in the past year just as the Welsh Government calculates that the poorest people in Wales will lose £900 million as benefit and tax credit cuts bite next year alone.

“Wales is caught in a perfect storm of benefit cuts, sanctions, low wages and insecure jobs that is driving more and more people to rely on handouts to survive. This should be a stain on our national conscience,” said Kirsty Davies, head of Oxfam Cymru.

“We support steps the Welsh government has taken to mitigate the impact of UK government social security reforms, such as keeping up the Council Tax Reduction Scheme after the abolition of Council Tax Benefit and replacing the abolished parts of the Social Fund with the Discretionary Assistance Fund,” she added.

“But it’s time the UK Government took a grip of this issue and urgently drew up an action plan to stem the rising tide of food poverty. ”

Over the year to 2013/14 use of Trussell Trust food banks in Wales rose 120%. Rhondda food bank reported a 40-50% increase in visitors in the past year, with the major driver being problems with their social security payments. Bridgend food bank, which opened in January 2010, saw a 123% increase in numbers helped in 2013/14 compared to the previous financial year, giving three days’ emergency food to 8,772 people.

Around 690,000 people (23% of the population) in Wales live in households below the 60% low-income threshold after deducting housing costs.

Tony Graham, food bank network manager for the Trussell Trust in Wales said: “Communities all over Wales show massive generosity in supporting families in crisis with their donations to our food banks, but such a scale of generosity should not be necessary in a fair society.”

Niall Cooper, CEO of Church Action on Poverty said: “Protecting people from going hungry is one of the fundamental duties of Government. Most of us assume that when we fall on hard times, the social security safety net will kick in and prevent us from falling into destitution and hunger. We are deeply concerned that the principle of this crucial safety net is now under threat.”

A Government spokesman said the figures in the report were ‘unverified’ and ‘drawn from disparate sources’. “They cover a wide variety of provision including food redistributed to places such as community cafes, lunch clubs for the elderly and children’s breakfast clubs which are frequented by all sorts of people.

“This report also overlooks basic facts about the strength of our welfare system. We provide a vital safety net, spending £94bn a year on working age benefits to support millions of people who are on low incomes or unemployed.”